Star Wars “Brothers in Arms” – FCBD 2005

Since 2002 the American Comic Book Industry began promoting Free Comic Book Day to encourage customers to visit independent comic book retailers, to encourage sales and attract new customers. The promotion was a success and still runs to this day. 2005 saw the release of the first Star Wars FCBD comic, which can be downloaded for free from Amazon.

Originally destined to be called “Brothers in Arms,” this title was already in use, and as such this comic was left without an official title, however it has retained it’s unofficial name. This story takes place after Attack of The Clones and approximately four and a half months before Revenge of The Sith. Anakin and Obi Wan, having found Count Dooku’s citadel, are shot down as they approach it.

They crash land on the heavily forested planet and are forced to trek the long distance to the citadel.Time works against them – they need to get Dooku’s castle and catch Dooku and Grievous unaware, capturing them and ending the Trade Federation’s military front. However, when they finally infiltrate Dooku’s citadel it is over-run with an army of droids waiting for them, and no sign of the Sith or his General.

Their ship, meanwhile, has finished being repaired by the crew they left behind with the wreck, and they swoop in at the last minute and rescue the two Jedi from the swarm of droids.

Brothers in Arms is a short comic and is very easy to read. The interactions between Anakin and Obi Wan are poorly written, despite being an adaptation of the films – Anakin has slightly more emotion than in the films, which is great, but Obi Wan has lost the calm demeanor that made him such a formidable Jedi Knight and is now on an emotional rollercoaster. Let’s be honest – even the banter in the films between the two characters was often flat and uninspired, but it was Ewen Mcgregor’s clear sense of fun that gave the character some life. In the comic book we have none of the charisma or sense of charm that Mcgregor brought to the film.

The artwork is very nice. The characters are drawn to very closely resemble the characters from the films. The backgrounds and scenery are detailed and have a lot of depth. The light-sabre fight scenes and the general action is done really well.

It is not a sophisticated book, but a great introduction to comics and Star Wars for youngsters or die hard Star Wars or comic fans. I rate this book a 3/5.